18-08-2021, 12:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-08-2021, 12:35 PM by ppppenguin.)
A few months ago the BECG had the opportunity to collect equipment from the BBC's Swains Lane site. This was acquired by the BBC as a TV OB receiving site in 1938. It hasn't been used for some years. The 150 ft mast will doubtless come down soon, when the last of the mobile phone operators are cleared. The site will then be sold for housing - Highgate Village is an expensive area.
Link to google streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/P4inQjaEiPDrN8h9A
Items we especially wanted were the 12" monochrome monitors. We will be using them for our ABC-Thames OB truck project. There were 14 of them on the stack and another one just lying around. For the photo, all 15 were on my dining table.
I've powered all of them. One failed the smoke test, the other 14 gave some sort of picture. Some have quite bad marks on the phosphor from having had the same test pattern displayed for months on end.
Those of you with long memories will recall that I've had some of these through my hands before. Last year we were given another batch by Harefield Hospital TV, which was closing its studio. Quite a few of these are in rough condition, some affected by damp. Most are currently in storage near our Lincoln base. I successfully converted some to 405 line. One of them will replace the horribly unreliable Prowest PM14/1A that is currently used at the Vintage Wireless Museum.
For the ABC-Thames project we will need more than either HHTV or Swains Lane alone could provide, and it's nice to have a few spares. I'll judge what level of overhaul they need. The BBC ones look as if they will need minimal attention. The odd capacitor and clean the preset pots. at a guess. The slider switches that select the 75R termination and int/ext sync are all horribly intermittent. I'll use external 75R BNC terminations and hardwire the sync to internal. It's not worth replacing the switches and they're too unreliable to just lube and hope.
Link to google streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/P4inQjaEiPDrN8h9A
Items we especially wanted were the 12" monochrome monitors. We will be using them for our ABC-Thames OB truck project. There were 14 of them on the stack and another one just lying around. For the photo, all 15 were on my dining table.
I've powered all of them. One failed the smoke test, the other 14 gave some sort of picture. Some have quite bad marks on the phosphor from having had the same test pattern displayed for months on end.
Those of you with long memories will recall that I've had some of these through my hands before. Last year we were given another batch by Harefield Hospital TV, which was closing its studio. Quite a few of these are in rough condition, some affected by damp. Most are currently in storage near our Lincoln base. I successfully converted some to 405 line. One of them will replace the horribly unreliable Prowest PM14/1A that is currently used at the Vintage Wireless Museum.
For the ABC-Thames project we will need more than either HHTV or Swains Lane alone could provide, and it's nice to have a few spares. I'll judge what level of overhaul they need. The BBC ones look as if they will need minimal attention. The odd capacitor and clean the preset pots. at a guess. The slider switches that select the 75R termination and int/ext sync are all horribly intermittent. I'll use external 75R BNC terminations and hardwire the sync to internal. It's not worth replacing the switches and they're too unreliable to just lube and hope.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
